diff --git a/src/pytorch_lightning/core/saving.py b/src/pytorch_lightning/core/saving.py
index ffdc0988a1a6e..0b43bd51d6d2f 100644
--- a/src/pytorch_lightning/core/saving.py
+++ b/src/pytorch_lightning/core/saving.py
@@ -20,9 +20,10 @@
 from argparse import Namespace
 from copy import deepcopy
 from enum import Enum
-from typing import Any, Callable, cast, Dict, IO, MutableMapping, Optional, Type, Union
+from typing import Any, Callable, Dict, IO, MutableMapping, Optional, Type, Union
 from warnings import warn
 
+import torch
 import yaml
 
 import pytorch_lightning as pl
@@ -57,7 +58,7 @@ class ModelIO:
     def load_from_checkpoint(
         cls,
         checkpoint_path: Union[str, IO],
-        map_location: _MAP_LOCATION_TYPE = None,
+        map_location: Optional[_MAP_LOCATION_TYPE] = None,
         hparams_file: Optional[str] = None,
         strict: bool = True,
         **kwargs: Any,
@@ -172,13 +173,13 @@ def on_hpc_load(self, checkpoint: Dict[str, Any]) -> None:
 def _load_from_checkpoint(
     cls: Union[Type["ModelIO"], Type["pl.LightningModule"], Type["pl.LightningDataModule"]],
     checkpoint_path: Union[str, IO],
-    map_location: _MAP_LOCATION_TYPE = None,
+    map_location: Optional[_MAP_LOCATION_TYPE] = None,
     hparams_file: Optional[str] = None,
     strict: bool = True,
     **kwargs: Any,
 ) -> Union["pl.LightningModule", "pl.LightningDataModule"]:
     if map_location is None:
-        map_location = cast(_MAP_LOCATION_TYPE, lambda storage, loc: storage)
+        map_location = _default_map_location
     with pl_legacy_patch():
         checkpoint = pl_load(checkpoint_path, map_location=map_location)
 
@@ -444,3 +445,7 @@ def convert(val: str) -> Union[int, float, bool, str]:
     except (ValueError, SyntaxError) as err:
         log.debug(err)
         return val
+
+
+def _default_map_location(storage: torch._StorageBase, _: str) -> torch._StorageBase:
+    return storage
diff --git a/src/pytorch_lightning/utilities/cloud_io.py b/src/pytorch_lightning/utilities/cloud_io.py
index 99629bcda8980..ddcb054b35c50 100644
--- a/src/pytorch_lightning/utilities/cloud_io.py
+++ b/src/pytorch_lightning/utilities/cloud_io.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 
 import io
 from pathlib import Path
-from typing import Any, Dict, IO, Union
+from typing import Any, Dict, IO, Optional, Union
 
 import fsspec
 import torch
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 
 def load(
     path_or_url: Union[IO, _PATH],
-    map_location: _MAP_LOCATION_TYPE = None,
+    map_location: Optional[_MAP_LOCATION_TYPE] = None,
 ) -> Any:
     """Loads a checkpoint.
 
diff --git a/src/pytorch_lightning/utilities/types.py b/src/pytorch_lightning/utilities/types.py
index 18e2db6feb6c6..9de416c4a8045 100644
--- a/src/pytorch_lightning/utilities/types.py
+++ b/src/pytorch_lightning/utilities/types.py
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
 ]
 EVAL_DATALOADERS = Union[DataLoader, Sequence[DataLoader]]
 _DEVICE = Union[torch.device, str, int]
-_MAP_LOCATION_TYPE = Optional[Union[_DEVICE, Callable[[_DEVICE], _DEVICE], Dict[_DEVICE, _DEVICE]]]
+_MAP_LOCATION_TYPE = Union[_DEVICE, Callable[[torch._StorageBase, str], torch._StorageBase], Dict[_DEVICE, _DEVICE]]
 
 
 @runtime_checkable